The countries of the European Union agreed on Wednesday to relax travel restrictions for non-EU visitors after Covid-19 before the summer season. This could open the door of the block to all British and vaccinated Americans.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved a proposal by the European Commission from May 3 to relax the criteria for determining “safe” countries and to allow fully vaccinated tourists from other countries, EU sources said.
They are expected to make a new list this week or early next week. Based on data from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the UK and a number of other countries would meet the new criteria.
The United States would not do this, although Americans would be welcomed with proof of vaccination.
An EU diplomat said cases of the Indian variant in the UK need to be considered, even though individual EU countries are already setting their own policies. Portugal lifted a four-month travel ban on British tourists on Monday.
Under the current restrictions, people from only seven countries, including Australia, Israel and Singapore, can travel to the EU on vacation whether or not they have been vaccinated.
Individual countries can and will continue to be able to request a negative Covid-19 test or a quarantine period.
The current main criterion is that no more than 25 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people should occur in the past 14 days. The trend should be stable or decreasing and there should be a sufficient number of tests that should have a minimum percentage of negative tests. Affected variants can be taken into account.
The commission suggested increasing the case rate to 100. EU ambassadors opted for 75 instead. In order for vaccinated people to gain access, they would need to have received an EU-approved vaccine, considering those with an emergency list from the World Health Organization.
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These people should have received the final dose at least 14 days prior to travel. As part of the plan, EU countries that waive test or quarantine requirements for vaccinated EU tourists will be asked to do the same for vaccinated non-EU holidaymakers.
Children should also be able to travel with vaccinated parents.
An emergency brake could be used temporarily to stop all but essential travel from a particular country to limit the risk of a more infectious variant of coronavirus entering the EU. Such a brake has been proposed for India.
The EU plan includes countries in the Schengen border-free area, including non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, but not the non-Schengen EU member Ireland.
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